The Violinist’s Cabin

The major challenge of the Oleana project is to find a way to visually recreate the parts of the story that are buried deep in the past. Oleana was founded in 1852 at a time where photography was in its infancy and it was still quite rare to see photographs reproduced in newspapers. In addition to this, the colony lasted only a little over a year, which made it difficult to find some time to document it. This is why there is no photographic evidence of the existence of the colony.

In the early 1900s some photographs were taken of the ruins of what once was Ole Bull’s castle. The violinist’s home turned out to resemble more a log cabin than a royal abode. In my project I make use of old photographs found in archives and historical society to re-construct and provide a visual representation of what is lost in time.

Giulia Mangione, November 2019